Of penn



N. M. LWER.

LOCOMOTIVE STOKER MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. Io, 19u-.

11,312,858V` f -PaIenIedAug.-12`, 1919.

Q 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' UNITED' sTATEs PATENT onirica.

NATHAN M. LOWER, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO LOOOMOTIVE STOKER COMPANY, OE SCH-ENECTADY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION 0F PENN- SYLVANIA.

LOCOMOTIVE STOKER ISM.

v Specification of etters Patent.

Original application `filed October 16, 1912, Serial No. 726,108. Divided and this application filed November 10, 1917. Serial No. 201,288. i

To allrohomz't may concern.'

Be it known that I, NATHAN M. LOWER, a resident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State' of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Locomotive Stoker Mechanism, of which the following is a specilication.

This vinvention relates to conveying mechanism, and more particularly to locomotive stoker mechanism for conveying the fuel from the tender to the fire-box and distributing the same therein.

This application is adivision of my application Serial No. 726,108, led October 16, 1912.`

One object is to provide conveyermecha- .nism for such stokers having'meansfor deliveringV or removing therefrom lumps of slate or other hard bodies, or coal too large tobe conveyed therethrough.l

A further object is to provide Stoker conveyer mechanism which will not clog.

For the attainment ofthe foregoing and otherl objects the invention. comprises the construction and combination of means hereinafter described and claimed.

' In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section through a Stoker. conveying mechanism constructed accordingV to the invention, the locomotive and tender to which the same is applied being shown conventionally; Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the horizontal portion of the conveyer; Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3-3, Fig. '1, showing the driving mechanism and the elevating mechanism for the fuel; and Figl is an enlarged detailed view of the improved iiiglt ofthe elevating mechl anism.

The improved Stoker conveying mechanism is 'shown in Fig. 1 applied to the rear of a locomotive having a` deck 1 and a fireboX 2, the latter being provided with the usual lire-door opening 3. Connected behind the locomotive is the usual tender having the fuel hopper 4, for carrying the fuel to be supplied to the lire-box, and which fuel may l vbe either prdinaryf run-of-mine coal or fuel through an opening 4a in the bottom of the specially prepared before being supplied to the tender, but in any case it is generally composed of both fine and coarse particles.

The fuel in the tender passes by gravity hopper 4, to a horizontal conduit 5 in which is located a rotatable shaft provided with spiral vanes which form a screw conveyer 7, which is power operated, as hereinafter described, and which conveys the fuel longitudinally in theconduit and carries it forward toward the tire-box.

Any large lumps or masses of fuel or fole'ign material which fall from the hopper 4 into the conduit 5 are forced by the screw conveyor against a shoulder or abutment 8in the conduit, and under most circumstances are crushed under the action "of the heavy screw conveyer. In case, however, that they are not crushed, they maybe discharged from the conveyer by telescoping one sec! tion of the conduit .intol another section thereof, to therebyv open the conduit and allow the mass of slate or other hard material to drop out.

To permit of this the conduit is made in three sections, 5 and 5a, which are rigidly connected together by means of tie rods or. plates 12, thus-holding said sections in alinement and at Xed distances from each other,

and an intermediate conduit section pwhich is slidably mounted in lthe section 5a, lto telescope therein, and which` has at its rear end the shoulder or abutment 8. The section 5l is moved longitudinally inand out of the section 5a by means of links 9 pivotally'connected thereto and attached to a lever 10 fulcrumed at l1 and operable from the locomotive cab.

The conduit-and screw conveyer therein, are provided with portions of increasing diameters forwardly. As shown the Screw conveyer portion in the conduit portion 5b is of larger diameter than that in conduit portion 5, and the conduit portion 5EL and the conveyer portion therein are of larger diameter than the preceding portions` 5* This gives the conveyer an increasing feeding capacity forwardly, which prevents clogging of the conveyer which may occur if the rear or initial end of the conveyer has a feeding capacity equal to that of the for- Ward or delivery end thereof, due to the increasing resistance toward the forward end Patented Angie, 1919.

member 13 formingl a part of the horizontal conveyer, and which is rotatably mounted at its ends on the fixed conduit members. rlhis cylinder 13 is provided with a plurality 54 of longitudinal slots or openings and is surrounded by a cylindrical sleeve 15 which also is provided with longitudinal vslots or openings therein, similar to the openings in the cylinder 13. .The sleeve 15 rotates with the screen member13 vand the slots therein normally register with the slots in the member 13, but said sleeve is rotatable relative to the member 13so that the size of the opening from the interior to the eX- 15 .terior of the conduit may be varied. For

this purpose the member 13 is provided with a cam roller 17 operating in a spiral or inclined cam slot 18 in the sleeve 15, so that by moving the sleeve longitudinali-y on the 20 cylinder. 13, the former rotateswithv reference to the cylinder and thereby varies the relative positions of the slots in the two members. The sleeve can be moved longitudinally to 'effect such variation in the size offV the discharge openings by means of a lever 19 fulcrumed at 20 and pivotally connected to a rod o r link 21 which in turn is cohnected to a member 21a which engages an annular groove 21b in one end of the so sleeve 15. l

The fine fuel discharged by this screen mechanism falls into a' conduit A25 located beneath the screen and in which conduit is another screw conveyer 26, which `1s driven from the screw conveyer 7 in conduit 5 by means of intermeshing gears 3() and 31 connected respectively to the shafts of said conveyers, and which screw conveyer 26 pushes the ne fuel forward to mechanism which under-feeds it to the fire, but which need not be here described as it. forms no part of the present invention.,4

.The screen is driven from the screw con-A veyer 26 by means of a sprocket wheel 45 on conveyer shaft 26, which is connected by a chain to a sprocket 34 forming a part of A or attached to the cylinder 13 of the screen.

The coarse fuel which through the slots in the screen is carried forward by the conveyer 7 to an elevating mechanism which clevates it at the rear of the vfire-box to fuelinjecting mechanism (shown generally at 35) so located as to inject the same into the fire-box, above theI fire. This elevating mechanism is shown in '60 of the fuel injecting mechanisms.

in order to distribute the 'fuel properly to opposite sides of the fire-box, there Ais mounted in the lower ends of the conduits 36, a central deflector 37, which is so arranged that it can be moved to direct more ing or retreating cannot pass neiaaee or less fuel into one or the other of said conduits. As shown, this deflector is pivot ally mounted by means of aitransverse rod or shaft 38 which is provided exterior-ly of the conduit with a handle 39, by means of which the position of said deiiector can be changed, so that more or less ofthe fuel may be deflectedinto one' or the other of said conduits, as desired, and thus distribute' the coal properly on the t'wo sides of the fire-box..

The'mechanism for elevating the fuel in the vertical or inclined conduits 36 comprises rods or bars 40 which at their upper ends are slidably guided 'in suitable bearings 41 in the conduit casings. are pivotally connected a,t their lower ends to a double armed lever 42 Xed upon an oscillating shaft 43, which shaft is oscillated by the worin gear ,44 which drives the conveyer shaft 6, said worm gear being provided with an eccentric crank pin 45 having a universal connection -to a connecting rod 46 which is coupled tol an arm or crank 47 on shaft 43.

The bars or rods 40 are each provided with a plurality of lifting vanes 48, of the .type shown in Fig. 4, each of said vanes being pivotally connected to the bar at 49 and provided on its underside with a stop .or projection 50 to engage the bar and thereby maintain the vane 'in horizontal position when the bar rises under the im-A pulse of its reciprocating mechanism, but allowing said vanes to fold into the position shown 1n dotted lines in Fig. 4 when the bar is moved downwardly and thus slide idly downwardly through the fuel. By this means the fuel is fedupwardly through said conduit step by ste and is held from fall- Ey the pressure of the screw conveyer vThe elevating mechanism described continually lifts the fuel and therefore prevents it from packing in the conduits, which often occurs with wet fuel fed upwardly by a screw conveyer. If desired, the fuel in the upstanding conduit may be moistened by supplying thereto` a spray. of steam or water, suchV as through pipe 64, Fig. 6.

The worm gear 44 on the end of the conveyer shaft 6 is driven by a worm 59 on the end ofl a transverse shaft 60 which is rotated by a suitable motor or engine 61,.

which may be of any type or design but preferably is suche1 that its speed can be regulated at will by a levier or other controlling member 62, as fully described in my application above referred to, Serial No. 726,108, led October 16, 1912, and which need not be here repeated.

Flexibility in the conveyer mechanisms between the locomotive and tender is secured by connecting the forward endiofthe horizontal conduit to thenlower end'ofrthe These rodsv lli conduits by a collar 66 secured the horizontal conduit and having a portion cmbracing and resting upon a flange 6T on the bottom end of conduit 36. The collar 'G6 is of such dimensions as to permit a proper amount of up-and-down motion, as well as` the siviveling motion of the horizontal conduit with respect to the conduits 36. The rear end ct' conduit 5 is provided with a pair of rollers 68 which move in horizontal slots G9 in a frame 70, pivoted at T1 to the bottom of the tender hopper 4, and having a circular' projection or iiange 72 at its rear end supported by and traveling on a way T3 on the tender frame.

l\'l`ovcment .of Jthe lower conduit 25relative to the locomotive is provided for`by a flexible conduit section 74, whichis formed of heavy sheet metal corrugatedcircumferentially in such manner that it is durable and yet sufficiently fiexible to permit of the movements of the locomotive relative tothe tender.

The upper ends of the conduits 86 connect to the two injector' mechanisms 35, one'on each side of the central plane of the fireboX. These conduits are bent or arched over the injectors at 7 5, and are preferably provided with removable covers or doors 75 to permit fuel to be introduced by hand to the plungers, or permit access thereto for step-bystep upward movement of the fue1,`

without danger of clogging, and the screw conveyer of increasing diameters forwardly provide the same advantage in the horizontal portion of the conveyer. The defleotors described provide a ready means for diverting more or less fuel into one orl the other Vof the distributing conduits so as to prop.

Jabove the deck of the locomotive for moving said section to open and closed position.v

2. In locomotive stoker mechanism, the combination with a re box, of a conduit' locatedunderneath the deck of the locomotive for feeding fuel to the reboX, said conduit including a portion arranged to be movedto open the conduit laterally to per- .mit the discharge of obstructing masses therefrom, and an actuating lever connectedA to said movable portion and projecting above the deck of the locomotive.

3. In stoker mechanism, asectional fuelfeeding conduit, one of said sections being longitudinally` movable, and means for longitudinally moving said section to open the conduit to permit obstructing masses to be discharged from said conduit.

4. In stoker mechanism, a sectional fuelfeeding conduit, said sections being telescopically related, and means for Aproducing relative longitudinal movement between said sections to open the conduit laterally, and permit obstructing masses to be discharged therefrom. y

5. In stoker mechanism, a sectional. fuelfeedin4 conduit, a spiralconveyer therein, one o said sections being longitudinally movable, and means for moving said section longitudinally to open the conduit laterally and permit the discharge of obstructing masses therefrom. y

6. In stoker mechanism, a fuel-feeding conduit including a reduced section sliding within an adjacent section and movable to, a position to open lthe conduit and permit1ob' structing masses to be discharged therefrom.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

Witness: l

F, W. WrNTER. i

. NATHAN M. LOWER. 

